City Parks is close to restarting its public process to combine the neighboring Red Rock Canyon, White Acres and Section 16 open space parcels into one master plan
Chris Lieber, who recently returned to his former role overseeing the department's Trails, Open Space and Parks (TOPS) activities, said “precise dates” should be announced within a week.
He was able to confirm that a related process - to improve city communications with park users and volunteer friends groups - will begin first. A contract is being finalized with a consultant, and “it will be kicking off in April,” he said. “Once we get that process started, we're looking at starting back up with the Red
Rock Canyon process. At a certain point, those two processes will be running concurrently.”
He believes that communications are a big part of any conflicts the city might have with users and friends groups. “As a community, we're in this together,” he said. “How can we best take care of these wonderful spaces that we collectively care so much about?”
He estimated that both processes could wrap up around the same time, roughly two to three months from now. The goal is to get results with both efforts, but also not to have them last too long. “The needs [in the open spaces] aren't taking a timeout,” Lieber observed.
The public process on the master plan, which had started last September, was put on temporary hold in November, after City Parks officials revealed a concern about multiple, unspecified issues with users and friends groups. The decision to bring on a consultant to address those issues - which Lieber described this
week as largely communication-oriented - was announced at the same time. A delay occurred after Sarah Bryarly, then the TOPS manager, resigned (and later went to part-time) out of a wish to spend more time with her infant child.
Lieber, who had resigned in May 2010, was rehired by the city about two weeks ago.